Mick's Morning News: 12.17.18

posted by Bill Mick -

Dec 17, 2018

Rocket Launch Tomorrow Morning (Cape Canaveral, FL) -- An upcoming rocket launch will mark an important step toward securing America's leadership in space. That's what Vice President Mike Pence said last week about tomorrow's SpaceX launch that he will witness in person. A Falcon 9 rocket will take a next-gen GPS satellite into space from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 40. The 26-minute window for the launch begins at 9:11 tomorrow morning, and the weather is 80-percent go.

Man Arrested For Shooting At Girlfriend (Daytona Beach, FL) -- An apparent jealous boyfriend is facing charges for shooting at his girlfriend in Volusia County. It happened yesterday afternoon in Daytona Beach on Beach Street. Police say the suspect was following the woman and confronted her after she picked up a man at a gas station. The suspect shot at the woman and the man she was with, and while no one was hit, the woman suffered a seizure and was taken to the hospital.

Tampa Bay Lawmaker To Introduce Distracted Driving Bill (Tampa, FL) -- A Tampa Bay lawmaker is expected to propose a way to make the roads safer. District 60 State Rep. Jackie Toledo is expected to announce today that she will introduce a bill to tackle distracted driving. A bill to make distracted driving a primary offense passed the House last year, but it didn't come up for a vote in the Senate.

Affordable Care Act Sign-Ups High In Florida (Tampa, FL) -- Florida has the most sign-ups for Affordable Care Act coverage in 2019. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows just under a million Florida residents have enrolled as of December 8th. Many of those signing up are believed to be doing so for the first time. Enrollment ended at midnight Saturday.

Dodgeball Game Leads To Child Abuse Charges (St. Petersburg, FL) -- What was supposed to be a game now has a St. Petersburg man facing charges. Police last week arrested 22-year-old Halid Dedic for attacking a teenager during a game of dodgeball. Dedic is accused of tackling the 15-year-old and slapping him after the teen hit Dedic with a ball during the game. Dedic is charged with child abuse.

Parrot Shops With Alexa While Owner Is Out (Great Shefford, England) -- A foul-mouthed parrot is trading swearing for shopping. Rocco is an African grey parrot who was tossed out of an animal sanctuary in England because he swore too much. Now, the woman who adopted him is having to cancel all the stuff Rocco bought using Amazon Alexa while she was out. She told reporters she has to check the shopping list when she comes home from work and cancel the snacks, watermelon, ice cream and other stuff the parrot orders. She says Rocco also uses Amazon's personal assistant in more productive ways. She says she'll come home from work and the bird will have romantic music playing.

Man Sets Front-Door Christmas Wreath On Fire (McKinney, TX) -- Investigators are trying to figure out what led a man to urinate on a stranger's porch. Officials in McKinney, Texas say there is security footage showing the bad guy recently urinating on Joanne Chung's door and doormat but then taking things a step further. He also set the Christmas wreath on fire, sat down and watched it burn. Chung and her fiancé looked at the camera footage and say the man is a total stranger.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

2015, Disney, SeaWorld and Universal Studios added metal detectors at their parks in an effort to step up security measures.

1976, Ted Turner-owned WTCG Television in Atlanta, Georgia, changed its calls letters to WTBS. The new station was uplinked via satellite to become the first commercial TV station to cover the entire United States. It started on four cable systems and was available in 24-thousand homes.

1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford.